Academic interests
I work primarily on problems related to language, embodiment, power, and socio-cultural structures. My academic background is in linguistics, with a specialization in discourse analysis and rhetoric; I have spent a number of years studying disability and chronic illness, normality, categorization, marginalization, and inequality. I am interested in values, justifications, and motivations for social action, particularly as these are encoded in symbolic systems. At this department I am program convenor for the BA in culture and communication. I am particularly affiliated with (and supervise students who work in) the following fields:
- Cultural studies.
- Narrative theory and narratology
- Disability studies.
- The sociology of health and illness.
- Rhetoric and discourse analysis.
- Embodiment and normality.
Beyond academic research, I have a deep interest in research dissemination and communication. I have published books in a number of genres, including fiction, memoir, and children's literature. My books have been translated into ten languages; in the United States, the memoir I Live a Life Like Yours is published by FSG. I have published English-language essays for a general audience in The Guardian and elsewhere. My personal website (mostly in Norwegian) has more information about my non-academic work.
Courses taught
- SOS4010
- SOS1004
- KULKOM3090
- KULKOM1100 & KULKOM1200
Background
- PhD (2012) in Linguistics from the University of Oslo
- Postdoc at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography (2012-2016), University of Oslo
- Professor of Qualitative Methods, Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo (2016-2021).
- Literary author, Gyldendal and Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Current Appointments
- Member of the Working Group for the Holberg Debate.
- Head of Rhetoric at the Norwegian National Encyclopedia, 2012-
Research Groups and Network
- The research group in Text & Rhetoric, Institute of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, UiO.
- Rhetoric Society of Europe
- Nordic Network on Disability Research
- Disease Prestige and Informal Priority Settings